Aeorn and Nell had left the Dawn and had headed to Muir space, Calidna to be exact. After Calidna he would be headed to Kamino. In the end, he had accepted the lucrative and amazing offer that Cassandra had put on the table on behalf of her Uncle Tej. It hadn't taken him too long to consider it or think about it and after making sure that everything was squared away with Nell, he had accepted it. She had known that he would, as she had gotten a pretty good reading on the Mandalorian since she had met him. Once she had sent him and his group to Calidna, she had been able to get back to her work, which was keeping her boat afloat and in the black. It wasn't too hard, considering the types of jobs that they were able to take because of their size and capabilities, but it wasn't too easy either, considering their expenditures.

It wasn't a constant struggle, but it stayed on Cassie's mind and popped up at various points throughout the day. Luckily for her, it had allowed her to keep busy and stay away from Isaac, something that she guessed the Arkanian Jedi was happy for. He was able to stay to himself unless there was a mission going on, and he spent most of the time training in the Force and undergoing his rigorous combat training from Lorcin. While Aeorn's departure had meant that the Mandalorian wouldn't be able to train Isaac anymore, they had found a way around this through the Dawn's communication equipment. Thus, Isaac was able to keep up with that side of his training as well.

Cassie was sitting in the mess hall, her fingers working away on her datapad. She had just finished looking at the information regarding the purchases they had made from a medical supply company located on Kothlis and now she was reviewing a collections letter from one of their clients. The client had sent payment, but along with the payment had come a letter regarding another job. The job wasn't for the client themselves, but for someone that the organization knew.

Her eyes went over the Aurebesh script and she smiled to herself. It wasn't a big mission. It wasn't one that required use of the Dawn's turbolasers or starfighter squadrons. No, it was a more personal mission, one that revolved around secrecy. That made it more appealing to her. Not that the pmoney that was being offered didn't either, but the offer was a little too low for what they were asking. Cassie would haggle with them. Better yet, she'd send Emmali and have her haggle with them. No one could turn down a Silserian when she used her pheromones.

She looked up as Isaac walked into the mess hall. As always, her stomach did a little flip, as the raw attraction that she had for the silver haired Arkanian hit her. He was wearing a black and silver Vaungiur Mercenaries jumpsuit that was covered in what appeared to be engine grease. He had a tool belt on his hips and damned if it didn't make him look even more attractive. His usually silver hair was slightly streaked and despite the yuck that was in there, she wanted to run her fingers through it. Or even better, drag him to her quarters where her refresher was and clean his hair for him. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that, without inciting some kind of panic in the Arkanian. Ever since their intense and downright amazing makeout session in the ship's medical ward, he had become rather intent on avoiding anything that had to do with romance.

It was beginning to really annoy her. She had tried, had tried really hard, but he had resisted her and wouldn't properly explain why. Cassie looked away and then back at her datapad. She went back to work, looking at the letter. She decided on the spot that they would negotiate for a better pay off and then they would do the job. She needed something like this to get her mind off of whatever was going on between her and Isaac. She had made a move, but he didn't want anything to continue. Cassie knew that though it went against what she wanted, she needed to respect him enough to give him the space that he was asking for, and she did respect him. She respected him a lot.

If he didn't want anything to do with her outside of staying on her ship until he decided to leave and paying for his stay by working with her mercenary group, then that was fine by her. She wasn't going to pressure him to do anything that he didn't want to do. Simply put, Cassie had made enough mistakes regarding Isaac Bel'kaar already and she would get over whatever feelings she had for him. She didn't know what it was really, it could be anything.

Cassie shut her datapad then and rose, heading out of the mess hall. As she reached the door, she noticed that Isaac was watching her. She turned and gave him a small smile and a head nod. There was a brief flicker of surprise on his face. He hadn't thought that she had seen him watching her. He quickly covered his response and then gave her a small smile and head nod in return as well. She looked away and continued out of the room. Cassandra walked down the hallway and as she did, her commlink buzzed. She picked it up and spoke into it. It was just one of the bridge crew informing her that there was a ship that had arrived in system that had hailed the Dawn.

She already knew who it was. It was a Muir Corporation vessel that was delivering a shipment of proton torpedoes for her two squadrons of Spineripper-class Fighters. The Vaungiur Mercenaries were in the process of resupplying and damned if she wasn't going to take advantage of the benefits that her family offered her. Cassie paid all of her invoices, she didn't just have Tej write off whatever she needed from the company. As far as she was concerned, Vaungiur was just another client that the Muir had, albeit a client that could easily get themselves bumped up on the list of deliveries. She continued to walk, headed towards her quarters, instead of to the hangar like she should have. A Muir shipment and delivery was something that happened a lot, so she didn't feel the need to go and oversee everything that went on in the hangar bay, or personally sign off, especially when she didn't need to sign off payment wise.

In her mind, she was already building the team that she would assign this mission to. She had a few other things to do, otherwise, she would have gone on the mission herself. Cassandra was definitely sending Lorcin. She would have Lorcin talk to Isaac and send Isaac as well. Also, she'd give them a squad of her soldiers. Given the type of mission that was before them, realistically, she could have just sent Lorcin and Isaac, but she didn't want to improve Lorcin's ego. Also, there was nothing like having former Muir SpecOps soldiers helping you out.

She had reached her quarters and with a sigh, Cassie entered her rooms, her mind moving onwards to other things.

Isaac switched off his lightsaber. As he did, the two Balins that he had been working with shut down as well. One had utilized Juyo while the other had been fighting with Makashi. Isaac had wanted to see what would happen if one combined the acrobatics and power of Juyo with the precision movements and strikes of Makashi. The Balins had both been set at Jedi Knight level. Despite Isaac's considerable prowess and raw talent in the Force and with a lightsaber, he had been hard pressed to defeat them. Yet defeat them, he had. He knew that Erik would be proud. His skill in Soresu had drastically increased. It had been years now that he had been learning Soresu. Isaac was pleased with his progress and was reading everything that Erik had and had written on Soresu. It was a lot of material, but Isaac was making progress. The two Balins went back to their charge stations.

He sat down on the floor and looked over to a corner of the room where he had a towel and a bottle of water. Getting to them would require making an effort and after such a copious amount of work, Isaac was feeling just a bit lazy. There was a good reason he had been gifted with the Force, he decided. He reached out through the Force and pulled, bringing the two items towards him. Isaac first used the towel to clean off some of his sweat. He was drinking from the bottle of water when Emmali walked into the room. She eyed him.

"You're sweaty." She said.

"I must admit, that you've made something that is definitely a very astute observation." Isaac said with a grin. He took his towel and set about moping up more of his sweat before taking another swig from the bottle of water. He looked back up at her, waiting for her to continue with whatever she had come to talk to him about.

"I like sweaty." She said, raising her eyebrow in an appreciative look.

"Oh. Did you come in here for an actual reason or just to try to seduce me?" Isaac asked.

"That's an interesting question and one that I've had to deal with for a few moments now. I've settled on this response and I think you'll like it, Isaac, I really do. What if seducing you is the reason?" She asked in reply.

"I hadn't thought of that. I have to say, you've got a good point."

"Unfortunately for you, I'm not here to give you the greatest sex you'll probably ever have." Emmali said with a smile on her face. "I've been asked to bring you to the meeting rooms. Cassie wants you and not that way. That's a mistake, really. See she does, but you're being a thick brained idiot, so she just wants to talk to you, about a mission. Otherwise you two could be engaging each other in one of the greatest recreational activities ever conceived. It would also go a long way to relieving the stress that both of you are dealing with." She said, winding down.

"Okay." He said with a solitary nod.

"That's it? That's all you've got?" Emmali said, folding her arms across her chest and giving him a look of disbelief and shock. "Men are such asses, you know that?" She said.

"Well, that's why your people don't really treat them as regular people, I guess." Isaac said, rising from the ground. Emmali made a face that told him exactly what she thought about his comment and he nearly smiled. "Look, I explained to Cassie why I wasn't going to do that and why I wasn't available. It's not exactly my fault if she's not willing to accept those reasons. I did my best to explain it to her. If she wants me to, I'll explain it again. But I'm not going to change to do what she wants." He said with a simply shrug.

Emmali sighed before shaking her head slowly. "I told her to just let me pheromone you for her. But no, she had to do things her way." She said. She turned and started walking out of the room. "Well, come on then." She said. "I haven't got all day. We need to get a move on."

Isaac just nodded and rose, tossing the towel so that it was over his shoulder and continuing to drink from the bottle of water as they walked towards a series of turbolifts which would take them to the meeting room and Cassie. His mind drifted towards her. He had seen her only a few days ago in the mess hall section of the ship. She had left shortly after he had arrived, but he had seen her and had watched her. She had stolen looks at him as well, but she had thought that she couldn't be seen. He had been working on the Shan'teni and had been covered in the grease and grime that came from tuning up the engines. He was just about done with fixing the ship and making sure that everything was where it was supposed to be again. Korensan's people had given the ship quite a beating.

He had wanted to go over there and talk to her, but he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't afford to do anything now that might suggest to her that he was willing to entertain a relationship between them. At least a relationship other than or more than the one that they had now, which was comrades and soldiers in arms. It wasn't something that he was genuinely happy about. He liked talking to her and though she was annoying sometimes, he did enjoy their verbal sparring matches. Though he had only known of them for a short while, they felt a part of him, and now that they were gone, he felt as though he had lost a vital and integral part of himself. It hurt in a weird, undefinable way. Before, he had been used to having her wander in on him while he had been training or working on the Shan'teni.

Sometimes, she hadn't said anything, she'd just sat there with him while he was working on some part, or had watched as he had trained in the Force or had dueled a Balin droid. Other times, they had talked and she had asked him questions about the mercenary group and different decisions. Nothing that was incredibly important, but various things that were on her mind. Still other times, she had asked him questions about her father. She had wanted to know how things had been between Isaac and the Bothan when he had been traveling with him and training with him. Isaac had spent quite a few years under the Jedi Master's tutelage, after all. He and Erik had had an understanding between them, and she had wanted to know about their relationship. Telling her was the least that he could do, really and he had no problem doing it. He had spoken to her about whatever she had asked, and had answered what questions he could.

Isaac looked down as they entered the turbolift. This was bound to be interesting, to say the least. He hadn't really dealt with her since their argument, so he had no idea how she was going to speak to him or treat him. Whatever it was, it was bound to be better than how she had treated him when they had first met. For that, he could be grateful.

Isaac wasn't sure exactly why Cassie needed him on this mission. He assumed it was simply because of his Jedi abilities. He, Lorcin, and Cassie were going to be working bodyguard detail for a local person of importance as this person traveled between a number of different star systems. The threat that they faced didn't have anything to do with starfighters or vessels, but had to do more with threats on the ground as the person went about business. Apparently the last time that this route had been undertaken, the person's entourage had been attacked and the woman had had a hard time replacing everyone on short notice. Thus, the Vaungiur mercenaries had been tapped to do this bodyguard detail. Isaac had at first felt as though the mission was not something that suited him and furthermore was not something that suited his skills set. He wasn't a bodyguard, he was a Jedi. Cassie had counter argued that Jedi had done this in the days of the Old Republic, that he was protecting people which was another part of being a Jedi, and the fact that he was working for her meant that his opinion counted for much less. This was something that had annoyed him.

He wasn't sure how, but magically he had become an employee of her company of mercenaries. How this had happened was something that baffled him. Isaac hadn't signed any papers or okayed any contract that stated that he was now working for the Vaungiur Mercenaries. He understood that he needed to help out because he was on the ship and utilizing the resources of the Dawn in multiple ways. He took up a set of quarters, the Shan'teni was being housed in one of the hangars, he ate food that was prepared by the mess hall and made use of the water resources on board the ship. Part of the ship had also been converted into a place where he could work on his Jedi training and his combat training. Because of all of that, he knew that he owed something to Cassandra and Emmali and to the rest of the Vaungiur.

But that didn't mean that he was going to be her lap dog or her special soldier or whatever. He had tried to talk to her about it. Cassie had asked him to do this one mission for her and then they were going to discuss what exactly he was going to do in regards to his work with the Vaungiur Mercenaries. He had hinted to her that he was getting ready to move on and leave the Dawn and continue his Jedi training. Isaac had considered going back to the Dawn Compound on Arkania that Erik had built and working on his training there. The Dawn Compound was special to him because after all if it hadn't been for Erik wanting to construct the place, he and Erik would never have met.

He had also considered going to Onderon where the Jedi Order had a Temple set up. He wasn't sure how he would be accepte there and wasn't sure if he even wanted to go there. Erik hadn't talked that much of the Jedi Order and why he wasn't exactly part of it anymore. He knew that Erik's brother Derek was part of this new Jedi Order and that he was part of the Council. Isaac knew that Derek would probably if not definitely help get him acclimated to the way that the new Jedi Order did things. It was just that Isaac wasn't sure that he wanted to lose his identity. He would become another one of the many padawans or Jedi in training there at the Temple. With Erik he had been a person, and that was important to Isaac, considering his previous life as a slave.

It was one of the reasons why he wasn't too thrilled with the way that Cassie was treating him. He was in his quarters now, meditating and seeing if the answer to his problems would come to him through the Force. He wanted to know what to do in regards to his education in the Force. Should he go back to the Dawn Compound, should he go to the Jedi Order? Maybe what he needed to do was wander the stars and come across those that he would and learn from them. That was what he and Erik had done after all. They had gone to various places in the galaxy at the beck and call of the Force and had done its will wherever they had gone. Furthermore, if he went to the Dawn Compound, he wasn't sure what to do then. While he had access to all the information there, maybe it was a smart decision to take some of the material and bring it with him back to the Dawn and the Vaungiur Mercenaries.

He had promised Erik that he would take care of his daughter and he couldn't do that if he was on Arkania and not around her. Isaac had made a promise and he was going to stick with it, despite what happened between him and Cassie. He knew that he was making a hard road for him to walk considering how he felt about Cassandra. Isaac knew that he was going to fall more in love with her over time and it was going to complicate things. But he knew that he had to do it.

There was a knock on his door and then it opened. He knew who it was before the person stepped inside. He had known who it was before the person had even knocked on the door. "Yes, Cassandra?" He asked, keeping his eyes closed.

"At least let me try to think I fooled you into not realizing that I entered the room." She said.

He cracked a little bit of a smile.

"What can I do for you?" He asked.

"Well that's a loaded question." She replied. "I figure that if you want to go on with your training like you were kind of saying that you wanted to, you'd probably head to Arkania where my father had his little place. I know that he had a lot of stuff there about the Force and it would be a great place for you to be able to train and learn about the Force."

"I was considering it, yeah." Isaac said.

"I guess….I guess we could go there and pick up some of what my father had there. You could use the Dawn as a mobile training kind of thing." Cassie said, happy that his eyes were closed so he couldn't see her face. She was biting her bottom lip, and there was worry in her eyes that he was going to turn her down. Furthermore, she was lightly rubbing her hands over one another. "I mean, that is, if you want. I'm not saying you have to or anything." She said, quickly rushing through it.

"I understand. You know, I had been thinking about doing something like that and asking your permission to do that, actually." Isaac said.

"Really?" Cassie asked, realizing that she was sounding way too hopeful and enthusiastic about what he had said. "Sure, you could do that if you want. I mean, this is a modular cruiser after all, and we do have extra space that we could convert into a real place for you to do your training, so…you could stay." She said. Cassie shrugged even though he wasn't able to see it. "It's just a thought."

"And I promise that I will think about it." Isaac said, slowly opening his eyes. He looked up at her. "Weren't we, you know, supposed to have this discussion after we got back from this mission?" He asked her with a small smile.

Isaac took the punch, because realistically, there wasn't much that he could do about it. His attacker forced his head up once more and then hit him again. Compared to what Cassandra had done to him back when, this wasn't that bad at all, but considering everything that had happened before this had started, well, it was pretty bad. He rolled his tongue around in his mouth, working up a combination of blood and spit which was tossed out onto the ground. His attacker stepped away and regarded him with a look before turning and slowly walking out of the room. Isaac waited a few moments and then turned to check the shackles that held him prisoner against the wall. After he was sure that there wasn't a way out of them, he looked to the only other person in the room with him. "Are you alright, Cassie?" He asked, his voice a little hoarse from the pain he was in.

"Yeah, I'm fine. They didn't rough me up too badly." She replied, but it was obvious that she was in pain. She looked around then, but for her, she was looking for ways out of the room outside of the door, which she figured was locked. Cassie was already assuming that they'd be able to get out of the shackles and free themselves from the chains. He shook his head slowly and was going to look away when she asked the question that had been on his mind for a while now. "How the hell did that manage to happen?" She asked.

"I have no idea. I still don't know who these people are, and who that Force user was." He replied, thinking about what had happened. "But he was powerful, that much was for sure." He added, his head shaking again as the events of the battle came back to him.

"He had to have been, to have beaten you." Cassie replied.

Her comments made him feel a little bit better about what had happened. "Cassie, I honestly hate to tell you this because I was hoping to keep the illusion going, but I'm not the greatest Jedi that ever walked the galaxy." He said with a small, but painful, smile.

"I know that. You're not my father." She said, pointedly. "Any idea how we can get out of here?" She asked. "They have an yslamiri with them, so I guess we're ruling out you using the Force to break the bonds." She said.

"Very true." Isaac replied.

"You think Lorcin survived?" Cassie asked.

"I don't doubt it." Isaac said. He fell silent after this and so did she. As he remained there, on his knees, he thought back to what had happened and how they had found themselves in this predicament. It was an interesting series of events, and he wanted to take a bit of time, seeing as he had an abundance of that right now, to think everything through and figure out just what he had done wrong, so that in the future, this wouldn't happen to him or to anyone who was with him. That was always something that he enjoyed doing, reviewing his mistakes and seeing what he could learn from them. It was one thing that Erik had taught him and that had definitely stuck with him.

They had been on the mission, doing the bodyguard work. They had met up with their employer and had boarded her vessel in order to provide on the ground protection for her. The first, second, and third legs of her trip had gone off without incident. Then they had headed to her fourth destination. When they reverted out of hyperspace, that was when everything had started going horribly wrong. There had been a Vindicator-class Heavy Cruiser lying in wait for them. It had launched a full contingent of starfighters, all of the Preybird-class.

Their protective fighters had been made short work of, and their vessel had headed down to the ground, to try to protect the woman who the people were coming after.

The fight on the ground had been interesting. There had been an extremely powerful Force user with the armed soldiers who had attacked them, someone that even Lorcin and Isaac hadn't been able to neutralize. The lightsaber duel had been short, sweet, and to the point. It had hammered one thing home to Isaac, that he needed to work on his training and that it was something that he had to immediately. Assuming that he made it out of this situation alive. He didn't doubt that he could pull it off. The Force user had been above Mistress Vale in power and skill, but below Vlan Korensan's level. It led him to believe that he would be able to take the person down, if he concentrated enough and reworked his strategy. His strategy during the duel had been geared more around keeping the Force user away from the person that he was supposed to protect.

He wasn't sure why they had come after the woman and what they wanted, but he did know that she had been captured along with Cassie and Lorcin. The rest of her bodyguard detail had been killed, shot during the fight. It was just the four of them now, and Isaac wanted answers, answers that he would get.

Isaac’s thoughts were interrupted as the door to the cell that he and Cassandra were in opened and two people entered the room. The Arkanian looked up as they walked towards him. One of them squatted so that he was eye level with him. “You’re coming with us, Jedi.” The man said. “Our boss wants a word with you. Something about who your master was and your training, I don’t know.” He said. He shrugged as he rose from the lowered position. “So, you want to talk to him?” He asked with a smirk on his face, the question obviously rhetorical. Isaac shrugged, just to play along.

The man and the other who was with him reached down and grabbed him, lifting him up. The one who hadn’t spoken yet pressed a button on a hip mounted control and Isaac was loosened from his chains. The chains were exchanged for shock cuffs. Isaac was going to turn and look back at Cassie, but before he could, he was hustled out of the room, a pair of stun batons at his back. He walked out of the cell and down a hallway to a turbolift. Upon entering the turbolift, he watched as the two men pressed a button labeled four. As the lift moved upwards, he realized that he was in the second basement level of whatever building this was.

The information would probably prove useless, but it was good to know, just in case. As the turbolift moved upwards, Isaac took this time to study the two men that he was with. Neither gave off any aura of Force sensitivity. It led him to believe that either their boss worked for or with the Force user that he had fought, or the Force user was the boss and was beyond something small like a master and apprentice set up. Whichever was the case, it made whatever he was going to face a little unpredictable. But then again, Isaac hadn’t considered the fact of whether or not these two could sense the Force or had any training in the Force to reveal much about what was going to happen.

The turbolift doors opened rather quickly and they were at their destination. Isaac was ushered into a large room and he saw that he was in some kind of a city. He didn’t know much about the planet that they were on, and he wasn’t sure where exactly they were. He did know that they had not left the world that they had originally landed on to try to get away from the people who now had him captive. But other than that, he knew nothing. Isaac’s eyes focused on the man in front of him, everything else losing focus in his mind for a few moments.

Isaac wasn’t sure what side of the Force the man used, but he did know that this was the Force user that he had fought. The man walked towards him, having entered the room through another door. He was a Whiphid, and he looked as though he was forty or fifty years older than Isaac was. He had long dark gold fur, and brown eyes. He was easily over two meters in height and Isaac had to look up to look the man in the face. The Force user was dressed simply, in a Jedi looking outfit that wasn’t too overt. It was utilitarian and unshowy. Isaac could see the two lightsabers that were attached to the man’s waist. He knew from experience that they were green bladed sabers and that the man who wielded it was exceptionally well trained.

“You fought well in our fight.” The man said, without preamble. “You honor your master, whoever he may be. I do question your judgment, but outside of that, I give you my respect.” He added.

“I must question, however, the thought process that went into your decision to fight against me. It is one that I have been wondering about and decided that the simplest course of action, was to ask you.”

“I’m not sure that I follow you.” Isaac said. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the choice you made to defend the woman.” The Whiphid said.

“I work for a mercenary group. We were hired by the woman to defend her against anyone who attacked her while she was traveling. You and your men did just that, so I did my job.”

“That possibility I considered, but I didn’t think that a Jedi would be working for a mercenary group like that.” The Whiphid said.

“I’m not formally part of the Jedi Order.” Isaac said, and the Whiphid nodded in response.

“I see.”

Isaac paused then. So far, the Whiphid had been pretty nice and hadn’t attempted to kill him or threaten him. As it was, he didn’t think that the man was going to hurt him, but he didn’t want to press his luck in any way. Still though, he needed to ask this question. “Why were you attacking the woman in the first place, if you don’t mind me asking. What has she done that is so wrong?” He asked.

After listening to everything that the Whiphid Jedi had had to say, Isaac had found his cause rather compelling. The Jedi fought hard, at least in this sector, against people who would hurt others, particularly those who would utilize the dark side of the Force. He didn't only target dark siders, far from it. He targeted everyone who hurt innocents. Amongst his targets though, he did try to aim at those who didn't use the Force at all, feeling as though too many Jedi or members of the Light side went after only those who utilized the Dark side, not helping the average person with an average problem. It was a belief that Erik had espoused and one that Isaac found to be incredibly important. After all, most of the different things that he and Erik had done when they had been traveling around the galaxy had been geared to help the common person as opposed to fighting dark siders. It had just so happened that they had gotten tangled up with Mistress Vale and with Vlan Korensan. They had never planned for that to happen at all.

Isaac had learned that the person who had hired the Vaungiur Mercenaries wasn't someone who was terribly bad or evil. It was just that the person had a tendency to invest her credits and her equipment in organizations that were on the Whiphid's watch list. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, merely to speak with her, and attempt to convince her to take her business elsewhere. He had been brought to her a short time after his session with the Jedi had been over and he had found out that she was going to work with the Whiphid to try to bring an end to the different things that she had done in the past. Isaac had inquired after the wellbeing of his comrades, and the Whiphid had apologized for anything that had happened and had promised him that nothing more would take place against them.

At the time, it had simply been a matter of not knowing just who exactly Isaac, Cassandra, and their forces had been.

The next step had been rather, difficult. The Whiphid had brought Cassandra out of the prison cell that Isaac and she had been located in and had brought her to the room. Apparently that step of the next step had been difficult, as she'd knocked out one guard and had broken the arm and nose of another in the process of being transported. When she had seen Isaac, she had calmed down a bit. The same conversation had taken place then. The end result of that one had been interesting, to say the least. Cassandra had no problem with the Whiphid, but she was personally affronted and upset by what the attack had done to the reputation of her company and furthermore, her bottom line. Despite being told that he would cover any losses monetary wise, Cassie had still been upset about the name of her company. That had been harder to get over and Isaac knew that something like this would be hard to overcome. Then something had happened to make Cassie perk up a bit.

The Whiphid had asked him about who his master had been. The man had been interested considering Isaac had previously told him that he wasn’t directly affiliated with the Jedi Order on Onderon. As soon as Isaac had told him that his master had been Erik Muir, the Whiphid's entire demeanor had changed. A certain amount of respect and admiration had entered his voice. He had commented on how he had known Erik and how he had enjoyed the Bothan's company in the past. Furthermore, he had spoken on how great of a Jedi Erik had been and how good his Soresu had been. This had made Cassie happy, considering she loved any kind of praise about her adopted father. Because of it, she was moved closer down the road when it came to getting over the fact that her mercenary corps had had their collective behinds handed to them. At least a part of the mercenary corps.

Isaac and Cassie had been invited to stay a few days with the Whiphid before they left, which they had accepted, after arranging for all of their wounded to be taken back to the Dawn.

Now, Isaac was in a room in the same building, walking towards a balcony. Standing there, looking out over the small town of the planet that they were on, Cassie was on a communication device, talking to someone. He opened the door, and she turned, alerted to his presence.

"Yeah, just a few more days, Emmali, and then we'll be back. I have to go, Isaac is here." She said. She scowled, at whatever response Emmali had given, and then closed the comm. device. "Hey," she said as Isaac finished walking towards her. "How's the hairy one?" She asked.

"He's alright." Isaac said.

She stopped and looked at him. "Something's on your mind. What is it?" She asked.

"It's nothing really, I just-"

"Out with it." She replied. "Before I hurt you."

"Adhya'apka asked me if I would consider joining his group. In addition, I'd train with him and learn more about the Force." Isaac said. He saw the look on her face, how it had changed the moment he had said that the Whiphid had asked him to join his group. He knew that she wanted him to stay on the Dawn and he knew why. He had told her in the past that it wasn't going to happen, but it appeared that if he allowed her to experience everything and think on everything that he was going to be able to deal with it effectively this time around, despite her not realizing what had actually happened.

"Well, would you be able to still be on the Dawn?" Cassie asked.

"No, no, I wouldn't." He said. "I'd be working with these people now and be on their ships, whatever they may be." The Arkanian said.

Cassie nodded slowly, blinking a few times as she processed everything. She hadn't been able to convey to him how exactly she felt about him. One of the reasons why was because even she wasn't fully sure how she felt about him. She just know that she was attracted to him and that she cared about him. That was enough for her right now. She needed to know, for sure, that he felt the same way about her. It had been another hard thing to get out of him, and she hadn't gotten it, at least totally. Every step of the way there had been problems. The largest obstacle was something that her father had told him. She was having a hard time convincing Isaac that just because her father had told him to protect her didn't mean that he couldn't be with her. He wouldn't even give the relationship a chance. It annoyed Cassie to no end.

"So, you'd be gone from the Dawn then, right?" She asked.

"Yes, I would." Isaac replied.

She wasn't sure what to say, what to do, to convince him to stay on her ship. It seemed to her that he had already made up his mind and nothing that she could say would change it. "The Whiphid seems like a nice Jedi." She said, watching how Isaac smiled at the phrase "nice Jedi". She scowled in response, knowing that he was making fun of her in his head. "He looks as though he could teach you a lot." Cassie added.

"He is a powerful Jedi and he does know a lot." Isaac said. "You're right," He added walking past her and leaning on the balcony's railing, "I would learn a lot."

A thought sprang into Cassie's mind, and she blurted it out before she had had time to properly think it through and phrase it all the right way. "But if you leave, you're not doing what my father asked you to do." She said, looking down at the ground, near her feet after she said it.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," She started, this time taking the time needed to word it the way she liked it. "my father asked you to protect me. If you leave and go to Adhya'apka's group, then you won't be able to do that." Cassie said.

Isaac nodded. "But, if I spend time with him, I could learn a lot from him and that would enable me to better protect you, if you think about it."

That stopped her cold. He was right, absolutely right. Damn Arkanian.

"That's true." She said, slowly. "So…" She said with a deep breath, "when do you leave?"

"Simply because I can't protect you while I'm away. I can learn from Erik's information on board the Shan'teni and there's a lot of information there. It would take me years to properly understand it all, to be honest with you." Isaac said.

"Years?" Cassie asked, with a little bit of hope in her voice. She watched as Isaac nodded. "So, you're staying?" She asked and he nodded again. "Okay. That's good." She said and then coughed, trying to find the inner part of her that wasn't supposed to care at all about this and that all it meant to her was that the amount of food served on board the Dawn each day would be higher. After a moment, she couldn't resist it anymore and she jumped forward, throwing her arms around Isaac's neck. She reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, careful to make sure that she avoided his lips, otherwise he'd get all pissy, that she knew. She lowered herself, before she realized that Isaac's hands had grasped her hips in order to steady her.

Cassie savored the feel of his hands on her for a moment before pulling away. "Good thing you're staying, otherwise I'd need to find another Jedi. Hopefully one who wasn't all self righteous, full of himself, and cockier than a Corellian."

"Uh huh." Isaac said.

"What, it's true." She said in reply, a grin coming over her face. She socked him lightly in the arm. She stuck her tongue out at him as well.

Isaac just rolled his eyes and turned to leave, starting to walk towards the door. Cassie brought her right fist up to her mouth, lightly chewing on her thumbnail. "I'm glad that you're staying, Isaac." She said, making him pause.

Isaac wiped sweat from his forehead as he walked into his quarters on board the Dawn. He had been doing a series of training exercises that Erik had taught him long ago. They were a simple routine, one that he had learned in only his first few months of being Erik's padawan. However, they were difficult to master, something that Isaac had quickly learned in those first few months, was a staple of Erik's teachings. Easy to learn, but difficult to master. Everything that Erik did and taught him, required the use of patience and dedication, the hallmarks of a proper Jedi. Isaac was getting better at the patience part. He already had the dedication, now it was a matter of patiently and painstakingly unlocking the potential that he had. Isaac was getting better, that much he knew. He was able to connect to the Force a lot faster and easier than he had before, and he was able to remain in a meditative setting for longer. He wanted to make his master proud of him, and he wouldn't give up until he had become a proper Jedi.

The Arkanian dropped onto the bed in his quarters, and shut his eyes, grateful for sleep. He ignored the fact that he had was now depositing his sweat on the bed, it didn't concern him. The only thing that concerned him was sleep and getting rest. He was about to head off into sleep, when there was a knock on his door. With a groan, Isaac rose slowly. "Who's there?" He asked.

"Combat training. Not Jedi training." Lorcin said and clapped his hands once, as though there was no room for argument. "No time like the present." He added.

"Were you waiting for me to finish?" Isaac asked, narrowing his eyes.

"It' s a possibility." The other man said with a simply shrug. Then he jumped forward, to grab Isaac.

Isaac responded by turning, planting his feet into the larger man's chest and shoving outwards.

"Good, you're learning. You never know when and how your opponent will strike. Your Jedi combat can only teach you so much." He said. "Now, up, I said I would train you and that's what I'll do." Lorcin added.

Isaac rose and smoothed out the clothes that he was wearing. "The benefit of training is that one can pick and choose when-"

"Did your master, that Bothan, not push you when it was needed?" He asked.

Bel'kaar stopped for a moment and considered. "You're right. He refused to give me breathers unless I truly needed them."

Adhya'apka sat in his meditation room on board his vessel. It was currently traveling through space, slowly, with the Dawn matching pace. He looked up as Isaac stepped into the room. They were going to part ways. Adhya'apka had tried to enlist Isaac's services and had offered to work on his training, but the Arkanian had wished to remain on the Dawn. The Whiphid understood the promise that the man had given to his master, and that to him, it was too strong of a thing to break. He also had seen the way that Isaac looked at Cassandra, and he understood also, the strength of what the heart wanted and yearned for. He had picked up on much of what was between Isaac and Cassandra Muir very quickly, and he had asked Isaac to come over to his vessel one last time so that he could offer some advice and some insight. It was always good to see things from another perspective, as it often times shined light on some aspect that one didn't think to look from.

"Ah, Isaac, you have come."

Isaac nodded and waited, knowing that whatever the Whiphid had wished to speak of, it was important to him. Adhya'apka rose and stepped towards him.

"I wish to ask how you are."

Isaac frowned. "I don't understand, what do you mean?" He asked.

"Well, we have discussed your training, your master, your promise to your master, and the subject of which that promise deals with. We have discussed a great many things of the Force, but nothing, of you yourself." He said. "I would like to talk about the promise that you made to your master." Adhya'apka said.

"If you're going to ask again if I'll join you, the answer is still no."

"I'm not going to ask you that. I wish to ask you about your relationship with Cassandra Muir."

"I don't have a relationship with her." Isaac said and then he frowned. "Well, that's not true. I mean, I consider her a friend. She's technically my employer and she's the woman that I need to protect." He said.

"Yes, but she's also the woman that you love." Adhya'apka said.

Isaac frowned at this. "I consider her a friend." He repeated, a little stubbornly.

"But you love her as more than a friend. I was wondering why you didn't seek a relationship with her. She seems to be open to it and a Jedi should nurture love and compassion wherever he or she finds it, Isaac." The Whiphid said.

"All I know is that when I love someone, bad things happen to them, things that I can't stop. It's easier for me to stay away from her than to love her."

"So you doom yourself to a life next to the woman you love, but never with her?" Adhya'apka asked. "What if she finds another, what will you do then? You won't be able to continue on protecting her, especially if she falls in love with another. It is then that person's job and now you have lost her completely and totally."

"You're saying I should be with her so that I can keep protecting her like I promised my master?" Isaac said. "That doesn't make much sense."

"No, no." The Whiphid said, taking a few steps. He gestured with his hands while he spoke. "Why do you believe that because you love someone that something bad is going to happen to them?" He asked. "What makes you think this way?" He asked.

Isaac was on the bridge of the Dawn,looking out into space. Adhya'apka's ships had departed the system, headed to continue their work elsewhere. He still remembered what the Whiphid and he had spoken about. He wasn't sure what he was going to do about that situation. He needed to figure ot something though. One of the major points that the Whiphid had driven home was that something needed to be figured out and that whatever choice Isaac decided to go with, he needed to implement it as soon as possible. Isaac's only problem was figuring out what decision he was going to make. He was lost in thought and didn't notice Emmali walking towards him. She was perceptive enough to see that there was something on his mind, something that, to him, was of great importance. She considered Isaac a friend, and since he was the man that her half sister had fallen in love with, she wanted to help him with his problems. Of course, the fact that he was being thick headed in regards to pursuing her half sister was a problem in and of itself, but it was one of Emmali's and one that she was going to work on, over time, though. "Isaac?" She asked, reaching a hand out, gently brushing his arm.

He turned and looked at her, a small smile coming to her face. "Hey, Emmali. What's going on? Is there a mission or something?" He asked.

"No, I just saw that you looked like you had something on your mind, so I figured I'd lend my ears." Emmali replied. She rubbed his shoulder. "I don't like it when I see people upset." She added with a small shrug. "It's a pet peeve, I guess you could say." Her eyes had a bit of a glimmer of humor in them, but Isaac decided after a moment of thought that he didn't get whatever joke she was making. Maybe it was at his expense, but either way, it hadn't gotten across.

"Nothing too serious." Isaac said.

"You can tell me, you know." Emmali said.

"I know, I just…It's something I need to work out for myself." Isaac. "Nothing against you," he said lifting a hand up to reassure her, "I'm sure that you can help people with problems and issues, it's not that, honestly. I have to figure it out on my own. Also, I think I want to work it out myself. Kind of a personal challenge, if you will."

"Does it have something to do with Cassie?" Emmali asked. She turned and stood so that she was standing next to him, looking out of the treated transparisteel. She folded her arms over her chest and looked at him out of the right corner of her vision.

"I guess you could say that. I don't know if she told you about the promise that I made to my master, her father." Isaac said.

Emmali nodded slowly. Cassie had told her about it, and had explained that it was this that was Isaac's reasoning for not admitting how he felt. She knew all about it, but she figured that it would be better for her to hear it from Isaac himself. "She's mentioned it, in passing." Emmali said.

"Erik made he me promise, as he was dying, that I would protect Cassie and keep her safe. I have to do that, no matter what happens and I don't want a relationship with her to complicate things." Isaac said after a moment. He knew that it wasn't the heart of the matter. The Whiphid and he had spoken on that, but he wasn't sure if he trusted Emmali enough to talk to her about that. It just didn't seem like something that he could talk about with her, despite the amount of time now that he had known her. It had been over a few months, and while Isaac didn't just trust someone implicitly after a few months nor did he expect himself to, there was something about Emmali that asked that of him. Even if it wasn't total trust.

What he had told Emmali a few moments ago wasn't a lie. He did kind of want to figure the problem out on his own. Except when he had been young Isaac had had people help him with things. After he had met Garulak, things had changed. Garulak had given him a better life, even if it was still slavery. Erik had come along and had freed him and after that, he had helped Isaac with any and all problems that had come his way. In a sense, Isaac wanted to prove to himself that he could indeed help himself, that he wasn't going to be relegated to having to ask other people for advice. But he could tell that he was going to have a conversation about this with Emmali, so he just prepared himself for it.

"But if you're with Cassie, romantically, how does that stop you from being able to properly protect her?" Emmali asked. "If you don't mind me prying." She added after a moment's delay. "I'm just wondering how you came to the decision."

"Actually you might be able to understand better than most. You told me that for a Silserian, the moment when they fall in love, it's kind of like going insane isn't it? Insanity is the exact term that you used when you explained it to me."

"Right, I remember."

"Well, I don't want to lose my focus when it comes to protecting her for anything, even if the cause of losing my focus, is her."

"If that's the case, how are you able to protect her at all?" Emmal said. "Look, you love her, don't you?" She asked and Isaac after a moment, slowly nodded. "So, if you're not with her or you are with her, you're going to be distracted by her."

"Now you're seeing the beginning of the problem."

"Not really. If you're going to be distracted either way, then why not at least enjoy the ability to have a relationship?" Emmali asked. "Look, I like Lorcin, he's a great guy. Is he the one for me? No. Am I going to settle down with him and have a family or a real future? Probably not. But that's fine, and I accept that. I'm not even positive that there is a singular guy out there for me, just men in general. I don't think I'm built for a 'proper' relationship. What I do think though is that if I didn't jump Lorcin when I had, the thought might have popped into my head at the wrong point in time and something might have gone wrong. I don't know."

"But you don't know whether the fact that you're sleeping with him is going to cause something bad to happen down the road."

"True, but at least I'm having great sex. It is great by the way."

"Thanks, didn't need to know." Isaac said, and the two cracked smiles.

"So everyone close to you, the people that you care about, they all get hurt?"

"Yes." Isaac said. He had decided to explain everything to Emmali. He figured that it would be better if she knew. He didn't know whether or not she could help him. While he didn't think she could, she had a different perspective, and since he had lost the guiding perspective in his life, he figured that having an array of them would help him. So far, he had the Whiphid disagreeing with him. Adhya'aapka had told him that he did not agree with the viewpoint that Isaac held. Now, he would see what Emmali had to say on the matter. He had a feeling he already knew what she was going to say, but he figured that he'd give her a chance to put it in her own words, instead of whatever he'd come up with for her thoughts. "That's what the track record indicates."

"Or, it indicates that their destiny is to do what all mortal beings do, eventually die. It just so happens that they die after they've come into contact with you and you care for them."

"What do you mean?"

"It's in everyone's destiny to die, right?" Emmali said, folding her arms over her chest. "Well then if everyone's going to die, how does the fact that you care for them factor into it? It doesn't determine whether or not they will or won't die, because it's going to happen to everyone. It's just the luck of the draw." She said, turning to look at him.

She had a point. It was similar to what Adhya'aapka had said, except making no mention of the Force. Despite both of them being in accord on the subject, Isaac still wasn't too convinced however. "But why is it that way?" He asked. "It seems to me as though their destiny changes when-"

"If it's my destiny to get pushed off of a cliff, I might leave Silseris, go around the galaxy, do a whole bunch of different things and see a whole bunch of different places and touch a whole bunch of different lives, but I'm still going to end up being pushed off a cliff, it will just happen differently than what I might have thought it would have, back when I found out when I was on Silseris." Emmali said, wondering how she'd managed that much into one sentence.

"True, but what if you don't know what your destiny is?" Isaac countered. "It's impossible to read the future, even for a Jedi. Nobody knows what their destiny is and-"

"But they do know that they have a destiny." Emmali said, interjecting before he could continue. She had seen where he was going to go with that train of thought and she figured that it would be better to cut him off now. "There's no such thing as fate, Isaac, in the sense of there's just life and what you do with it. But everyone has a fate, at the same time, we just don't know what it is, until after we've lived it. I don't know what my fate is with Lorcin. I do know that after whatever happens with him happens, that will be what my fate was."

"That's my point." Isaac said stubbornly.

Emmali stopped for a moment and thought. "No, it's not. Because if that's what your point is, you should go and find a cave some place and be a Jedi hermit or whatever because you can't allow yourself to come into contact with anyone." She gave the Jedi a sarcastic look. "You might start caring for them and then they might keel over and die." When Emmali saw the exasperated look on Isaac's face, her features softened. "Look, Arkanian, I'm not saying that you should go and do that, anything but."

"I know." Isaac said. He looked away for a moment and then back at her. "Thanks for talking with me, Emmali, I'm going to go to the hangar, take my fighter for a little spin. It always helps my head." He said.

"Sure thing." She said and watched him as he walked off the bridge. Cassie needed to do something about him and do it quickly.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ten minutes later, Isaac was strapped into the cockpit of his Razor-class Interceptor Mk II. The Muir design was incredible, and the maneuvering jets on the fighter had helped him more than once. He was already cleared with the Dawn's flight control and within a few moments, he was off, blue lights all that was visible of him. He accelerated, letting the Dawn slip past him, and as he did, he let all of his thoughts go. When he was flying, that was all that he was doing. Isaac was a good pilot. He wasn't the best, nor did he claim otherwise. He knew his limitations in all things. In some, he constantly strove to break them, and in others, he accepted his shortcomings, and worked with what was available to him. With flying he was good, but the Force made him better. He was able to be part of the craft, melded with it to a point where he was able to beat many of the people who he was forced to go up against. His body and the fighter were one, and that was how he liked it.

He put the ship into a loose spin and felt the rush as the inertial dampeners kicked in to keep his body from experiencing too much stress. It was a great feeling. Isaac came out of the spin and kept the fighter level. Despite his best efforts, his mind drifted back to his dilemma. No matter what, he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened had Erik not been killed by Korensan. When he had eventually met Cassandra, would he still have fallen in love with her? Would Erik have approved of such a relationship, especially since Cassie was his daughter. These questions came to his mind, unbidden. He slowly turned the interceptor back towards the Dawn, surmising that he wasn't going to get the clarity that he had been looking for here.

As the fighter's engines and reactor worked hard to propel it towards the modified Strike-class Cruiser, his comm unit crackled to life. "Isaac, this is Cassie, I need to speak with you. We've got a possible contract." She said. "It's a big one." She added after a moment. "I could really use your help with the planning and everything." The woman said.

"On my way."

He kept on, until he was in the hangar of the ship, touching down on the metal deckplates. Isaac jumped out of the fighter and made his way to the main planning room, where he knew that Cassie would be. It was their general place to talk about missions and contracts. When he got there, he saw that the usual people were already in place ready to go.

"Good," Cassie said when Isaac walked into the room, "now that you're here, we can begin."

The med bay on the Dawn had been a busy place. Emmali watched as members of the Vaungiur Mercenaries went about their business, med droids in tow. The mission had been a success, but they had taken a lot of flak. Everything had gone downhill from the very beginning, even before any action had taken place. Isaac had insisted that he was going to sit the mission out. This hadn’t gone over too well with Cassie. It hadn’t gone over too well with the entire mercenary group either. Many of them had rallied behind Isaac and had turned him into someone that would help them and keep them alive if the shit hit the fan. He hadn’t tried to turn himself into the company’s symbol, it had just happened because of who he was. Ultimately, Isaac had said his good byes and had taken Erik’s Delaya-class Courier, the Shan’teni, with him. Emmali had tried to talk to her half-sister, but to no avail. All of her overtures had been shot down. She had watched as Cassie had thrown herself into planning th emission. There had been no problem with the execution fo the mission. Simply put there hadn’t been any mistakes on the part of the mercenaries.

Unfortunately, their target had reinforced positions and had made sure that they were ready and waiting. The attackers had been ambushed, to disastrous results. Among the list of things that had gone wrong, one of the biggest was that Cassie had been capture by the target’s ground forces. She had insisted on going out with the forces for some reason. Cassie had refused to explain her thought process to the Silserian and Emmali had been able to tell that it was because of Isaac. The loss of the Arkanian had affected her, and even if she didn’t want to come out and say it, it was obvious.

Emmali walked into another room of the med bay. A number of bacta tanks were in this room and every single one was occupied. All twenty of them had someone in them, getting their bodies treated with Thyferra’s finest. Vaungier moved through the rows, until she came to one in particular. This person was the newest person to start a dunk treatment. Cassie Dawn Muir was floating, her eyes closed. Emmali checked her half-sister’s vitals, happy to see that everything was steady and steadily improving. She sighed, turning. There was one other new person. Stepping sideways to her left, she found herself in front of that new person. A very tall silver haired, silver eyed man. Isaac Bel’kaar was going for a little bacta dip after the end game of the mission.

They had attempted to rescue Cassie, but that had cost them more manpower and supplies and in the end had been a failure. Emmali hadn’t been sure what to do then. Cassie was their strategy person, having learned at the sainted knee of Erik Muir. There had been a stalemate, and Emmali was sure that it was going to break down everything that they had been fighting for to get Cassie back. The mission would turn out to be a failure and she would have to negotiate with these people to get her sister back. But then a miracle had happened. Something that had almost reaffirmed faith in a way for the mercenaries, and after dogged fighting for the better part of seven hours, it was something that had been a godsend.

Isaac had jumped insystem, headed straight down to the planet below. He hadn’t even bothered to open a comms channel and try to find out what was going on. It was though he’d just known. Emmali had been amazed by it and the focus with which he’d done what he’d needed to do. The space battle had still be going on, and he’d blasted straight through it, not even caring that three enemy fighters had gotten on his tail. She had known that the Arkanian was a great pilot, but she hadn’t known that a Delaya-class could move like that. It had been a clinic on piloting. Once he had gotten to the planet, he had headed straight for the Vaungiur Mercenaries motor pool, taking a speeder bike. Non one had thought to stop him. He was Isaac Bel’kaar, after all. Then he’d left, headed towards his destination.

Though she had tried, her attempts to communicate with him had failed. He had been ignoring everything, everyone. As soon as she had had her analysts work out his general direction, it had been obvious that he was headed to where Cassie was. But she hadn’t need the holomaps triangulating his tracking device. She had known. There was something going on here that was above whatever she could do, whatever she knew. That vaunted Force stuff. This had moved what was going on out of her territory of control so she’d refocused on getting the wounded the help they needed, knowing that if Isaac did indeed need assistance, he would find a way to get in touch with her. She hadn’t been worried. It was simple to see that Isaac was going to get her back. And he had.

He had needed the bacta dip though, that much had been obvious. She had insisted on it when he had brought Cassie back. Surprisingly enough, he hadn’t fought with her on it, something that kind of amazed her. Isaac had just let her do what she had needed to do, as if now that he had done his part, he needed to take a good long break. Taking a step back, Emmali looked at the two of them in their respective bacta tanks and smiled. She folded her arms over her chest and thought for a moment how scared she had been in the back of her mind when she had realized that they weren’t going to be able to get Cassie back. The feelings had been a little too overpowering, to say the least. But then Isaac had come. He had rescued her sister. That was all that mattered. Her datapad beeped and buzzed. Since Cassie was “under the weather”, Emmali was handling all of the day to day duties of the mercenary group.

And the first thing on her to do list, after they resupplied and restocked, was to get paid.

“So, in the end, despite everything that you two said to each other, he came back for you.”

Cassie turned and looked at her half sister with a small smile. “I guess so.” She said, before turning and looking once more out the transparisteel window onboard the Dawn. She had finally finished with her bacta treatment and was back to normal. Isaac was still in treatment, but he was due out soon. She knew that Emmali liked hearing that Isaac had come back for her. Deep down inside, once you stripped away the hedonistic lifestyle that she lived, the real Silserian ideal of true love lived. Emmali was a romantic, no matter how many different ways you tried to look at it. She just was.

Cassie was much more of a realist, and she knew that her sister was living vicariously through her right now. “Yes, he did.” The woman ran fingers through her long brown hair. Thanks to the bacta treatments, it was still wet and clumpy, and darker than it usually was. Once she’d gotten to her room, she’d put on a matching black set of Lashaa silk underwear, and then grabbed a gray Tyrian cloth pullover. She had felt a lot more comfortable then and had been about to check her datapad to see what was being updated by the crew, when Emmali had come in to her room and done just that. Now they were talking about Isaac.

“That’s...awesome.” Emmali said with a smile, from where she was, laying on Cassie’s bed. She looked up at the ceiling. “You know, you wouldn’t believe what he was like when he got back. All macho, and lightsaber toting, force wielding. Real badass. Like he had to get to you, and there wasn’t a damn thing in this galaxy that would stop him. It was, like, all over his face and everything. You should have seen him, sister, really, you should have.” Emmali said, nodding matter of factly.

“I already spoke with the crew. You were nowhere near him.”

“Oh fine, but I can imagine that that was what he was like. Damn asshole wouldn't answer any of my comms when he came insystem. Ever actually.” She said, sticking her tongue out at her sister. “You have to talk to him.”

“Do I?” Cassie asked, no one in particular. She knew that Isaac had come back, yes, but why? Why had he returned? They’d argued. Vehemently. Loudly. She’d told him that he had to be a part of the ship, had to be a part of the crew, that there was no other choice for him. He’d denied this, and had told her that he was going to go wherever he wanted to, whenever he wanted to. He hadn’t seen that it was her only way of keeping him close to her. How could he have? There was no way that she could explain herself to him, not when she’d tried already and he’d insisted that there was nothing between them and that he refused to see her that way. She hadn’t known what to do, so pushing him towards being a part, a real part, of the Vaungiur Mercenaries had seemed the only option. But that had drive him away even more.

So he’d left. She wanted answers as to why he was back. But just like how she hadn’t known how to speak to him on the matters of her heart, she didn’t know how to speak to him now on these matters. Cassie didn’t know how to ask the questions to get the answers that she desired. All she knew was that she wanted to ask him. “How long until we drop out of hyperspace?” She asked.

“I’d say at least another hour. We’re headed to Sullust. NR territory, I figured we can resupply and figure out what to do next from there. We haven’t gotten paid yet for the mission, so I think that should probably be next on the to do list once we’re done with Sullust.” Emmali said and Cassie nodded.

They had been talking for a while, and Cassie figured that it was time to get properly dressed and head out to the bridge. She was about to speak, when there was a knock at the door.

Both women looked to see the door slide away, revealing Isaac. The Arkanian was standing there, dressed in a simple black shirt that was untucked over a pair of black pants. His feet were bare, as was a peculiar custom of his. Cassie had never bothered to ask about it, and no one on the ship seemed to mind. “Isaac.” Emmali said. “I see you’re out of the bacta.” She said with a smile. “How are you feeling?” The Silserian asked.

“Better,” was his one word reply as he walked into the room. His long silver hair was wet too and there was bacta water still on his skin. Cassie tried to stop looking at the rippling muscles that seemed trapped underneath the black shirt, but it was hard. Then again, why couldn’t she look? He’d told her she couldn’t touch. Her sister didn’t have any problem ogling, after all. “Emmali, we’re going to be dropping out of hyperdrive in about an hour, I already talked to the bridge. Why don’t you go ahead and get us started on the resupply operations once we get there?” He asked.

“Sure, I guess, but why are you-”

“Cassandra is going to be a little busy. She and I have to have a little chat.” He said, and then finally broke contact with Cassie and looked at Emmali. “In private.” He added, cracking a small smile.

Cassie wanted to call out to her sister, to ask her to stay. That there was nothing Isaac could say to Cassie that he couldn’t say with her sister present either. But there was something different. Isaac had always been very mature, but for some reason, that was the only word that she could think to describe his demeanor right then and there. Mature. It was different though and she couldn’t right put her finger on it. She knew that her words to her sister, if she was able to vocalize them would be nothing but a show of bravado, and a definite false one at that. But even if she’d wanted to, she couldn’t have, because Emmali hadn’t wasted any time in leaving the room.

And leaving the two of them, completely, totally, and utterly, alone.

“So.” Cassie said. “What’s this little chat we have to have?” She asked, folding her arms over her chest, only realizing a little too late that this drew the gray Tyrian cloth pullover up. It already ended abruptly before her mid thigh. Despite the fact that she was clearly in love with the Arkanian, for some reason, modesty, it seemed, was trying to bubble to the surface. As though she should be modest, even though he’d seen her in this state of undress before.

“Fine, I suppose.” Cassie said, sitting down. She folded her arms over her chest and looked at him. “What is it that we need to speak about, Isaac?” She asked. “Despite the fact that we still have time before we get out of lightspeed, there is still work that I need to do. Can you make it quick?” She asked.

In response, Isaac nodded, slowly. He folded his arms too and then he leaned against the wall. “I want to know why you were so reckless during that mission.” He said. “Why did you put yourself in such danger when you knew that there were people who were able to do the job for you?” He asked.

At that she had to give him a look. “For that precise reason. Yes, there were people who could do what I did, but I’m the leader of the company. I can’t ask them to do something that I won’t do myself and they need to know that.” Cassie said, with a small shrug. As if that had been the only reason for her to do that. She had known that Emmali had tried to talk to her about it and she had pointedly ignored her sister over the decision. She had done it on purpose, and it had been much more than proving to the crew that their commanding officer had stones. Isaac knew that, she could tell. He was letting her dig herself in a little before he got to what he really wanted to talk about.

That she could see that worried her, because she knew that there was more to this conversation than he was saying and she could tell already. This wasn’t a simple discussion on her being rather stupid in her planning and decision making and him voicing his level of concern with that. No, something else was afoot. That was what worried her. She couldn’t tell what he was planning. Yes, he was good at being hard to read, but right now, he was being damn near impossible. She couldn’t get anything from his body language, nothing at all.

“I don’t think that’s it. I mean, yes, that had to do with it, but something tells me that it wasn’t the only reason.” Isaac said.

Cassie looked away, and she knew that she’d given him the foot in the door, the first chink in whatever armor she had in this conversation. Anger and annoyance started to pulse through her. She knew what he was getting at, and she was still angry with him over what they had argued about when he had ended up leaving. Cassie was still angry and she wanted to lash out at him, lash out in a way that she hadn’t before, one of the things that had caused her to push herself too far. She didn’t know how to express it, not fully. The problem was that he was getting her too close to where she would just spew it out. Looking back at him, she saw the almost blank, expressionless look on his face, something that was rare for him. he always had some emotion on his face, and this, this was too much.

“What do you want from me, Isaac?” She asked, her voice low, almost a whisper. “What do you want me to say? That I threw myself into the planning of the mission and then the actual fight because I was angry with you?” She asked. “Is that what you want to hear? Fine. That’s what I did, because I was angry with you. I was frakking pissed. I can’t help how I feel about people, that’s just how I feel. What did you expect me to do when you told me that you weren’t going to act on what attraction there was between us, what feelings we were starting to develop for each other? The only way I could keep you around, and keep you close to me was if you stayed on the ship.” She said. Cassie got up, off the chair by her desk.

Walking over to one of the viewports, she looked out at the brightness, of hyperspace. What she loved about it was the sense of life, the brilliance of all the stars that were speeding by. Turning back, she fixed him with an accusatory stare. “So yes, I was angry. I had lost you, even though technically you can’t lose something you never had. You hurt me, Isaac, when you said that you didn’t want to be with me. That hurt...and it was hard to deal with. Pushing you to be a mercenary, to be part of the Vaungiur, it was my way of making sure that I’d always have you, even if it was just as a soldier.” Cassie said, frustrated. It translated into her running fingers through her hair and realizing that it was quickly approaching damp.

She brought her hands together, the clapping noise sharp and brittle and overbearingly loud somehow in the room. “Happy now, Isaac?” She asked. “You wanted it all, you got it all.” Cassie said, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

Isaac looked down at the ground, as if he was marshaling his thoughts on everything. After a moment or two, he brought his eyes back up. “When I left, I wasn’t sure where I was going. I decided to head back to Arkania. It had been a while since I had been there. Erik and I would stop off there in between our different missions and adventures. We’d built a bit of a compound there, a retreat really. It’s a pretty cool place. It’s called the Dawn Compound. I’ll have to take you there sometime.” Isaac said. “Anyway, I was there, and I was meditating, trying to figure out what I was going to do, when something interesting happened.” He said.

“What?” Cassie asked. She wasn’t sure, at all, why he was telling her all of this, but she knew that she would at least hear him out. She had yet to see the relevance of what he was saying.

“Erik appeared to me. At first, I thought I was dreaming. I could have sworn I was. But I wasn’t. We talked and it was great. It’s been so long since he...since he passed.” He said, watching the look on her face change from one of ambivalence and disinterest to something much more personal, much more heartfelt. He was talking about her father, after all. “We talked a lot, and one of the most important things that we talked about was his passing. He knew that I felt that it was my fault. If I could have dueled Vlan Korensan better, he would have lived. Erik assured me that this wasn’t the case, that it was destiny that he was to die that day.” Isaac said. “When he died, he told me to protect you, to keep you safe.” He said and she nodded remembering that he had told her this in the past. “Erik told me that the one thing that he was grateful for in his life, was that you had been a part of his life. That he had been able to save you and to give you a better life than the one that you had known. I spoke to him about what we’d argued about.” Isaac said, and then he showed some kind of emotion for the first time since he’d stepped into the room.

He gave a short laugh, that turned into a smile. “Even though he’s dead, he’s still teaching me.”

“What do you mean?” Cassie asked.

“He said that having people in our lives, was important, incredibly important. It’s something that we need to treasure, something that we need to cherish. He said that he’d seen what had happened between us, and that I needed to reconsider a number of things.” Isaac said.

“Oh?”

She could barely look at him right then. There was too much going on right then in her head and in her heart. Cassie didn’t trust herself with looking at Isaac. If she did, she didn’t know what she was going to do.

“Yeah.” Isaac said. He walked over to where she was, reaching out and lifting her chin so that she was looking at him. “I need to apologize to you. I shouldn’t have been scared that what was between us would be dangerous. Just because it happened in the past doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in the future. I need to realize that things aren’t always my fault. We only live for a little while in this galaxy, and we need to make sure that we do so with people who care about us and want to be with us.” He said. “I...I care about you, Cassie.”

“Is that it?” She asked. “That’s all, you care about me?” She asked.

“Well, I suppose that it’s something a bit more than just care.” Isaac said, with a smile. “Do tell.”

“I’d rather show you.” He said, leaning in and they kissed. It wasn’t the first time that they’d kissed, but it was a long time since they had. She remembered when she used to just grab him and kiss him. That had been before they had really had their talk on his ability to be in a relationship with her. More important than the time in between their last kiss and this one, was the simple fact that Isaac was being more than participatory. Before she knew it, she had her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers deep in his hair. His hands which had started on her hips had trailed down to her thighs. Then she was lifted up and she responded by sliding her legs around him, locking her ankles together. When they finally pulled apart, she was left looking into his eyes, their foreheads touching. “So, you want me to tell you, or you want me to show you?” The Arkanian asked with a smile.

Cassie paused. Unhooking her arms, she reached down and took the Tyrian cloth pullover off. Finally. There it was. She had seen him, over the time they’d spent together, often times catching glances of her and appreciatively looking at her body. But this was what she’d wanted to see. The look in his eyes was different, more hungry, more carnal. She smiled. “Do show.”

Cassie stretched, luxuriously. She hadn’t felt this relaxed, this amazing, in a long time. Ever since she’d met Isaac, she hadn’t had any sex. For a woman who was used to a somewhat steady amount, that had made life interesting. Granted, she wasn’t as interested in it as her sister was, but Cassie still heavily enjoyed the act, and she’d known that not having it had been bugging her. A part of her had wanted to give up on Isaac, knowing that she was stopping herself from enjoying herself because she wanted things to work with him. However, she had been unable to do so, and she was pretty sure that the lack of it had been a contributing factor to her behavior recently. But that had been fixed. Opening her eyes, she turned her head and looked at the chrono that she had on her bedside table. They would have dropped out of hyperspace by now, and she knew that Emmali would be working on their resupply issue. Knowing that Emmali would be handling it, Cassie knew that she had time. All the time in the galaxy, really. She turned, looking back up at the ceiling of her room.

Then she turned once more, and her eyes came to rest on the face of the sleeping Arkanian next to her. Only then did she realize that their legs were tangled together and that his left arm was wrapped around her waist. A smile came unbidden to her face. Reaching a hand out, she lightly touched his cheek. Maybe it had been the fact that she hadn’t had sex in a while, but what they’d done, it had been pretty intense. A memory came to her, of Isaac talking about a woman that he had been in a relationship with some time ago. Rayna. Rayna Midun. While she was a little jealous of Rayna for having had Isaac before he was as emotionally scarred, she couldn’t help but be a little thankful if that woman had taught Isaac something or other when it came to the art of lovemaking. She could arguably say that there was a slim chance that she’d ever had better in her life. Not sure what it was, Cassie made a mental note to have some more and compare, so that at least she’d know. With a wry smile, Cassandra knew that there was no way that Isaac could get out of her life now. She had him, and he was finally hers.

As if summoned by the thought, he stirred in his sleep. His grip tightened, his hand sliding down to cup the flare of her hip. He pulled and in his sleep he used more strength that he would have normally, pulling her towards him. They were facing each other now, and he gave a soft murmur of satisfaction, as if he knew. Cassie spent a few moments just looking at his face. Okay, so she also lifted the covers and peeked down at the rest of him too. But she could do that, couldn’t she? It wasn’t like she hadn’t just seen him naked anyway. If there was one thing Cassie definitely enjoyed, she liked watching him when he trained. For one, she felt more at peace and calm when she saw him working on his Jedi arts. Seeing his growth and the peace that his training brought to him had a doubling effect on her. There was also her base nature enjoying looking at an attractive male stripped of some of his clothes and sweaty.

She was about to let the covers fall back down, when his hand retracted, his larger hand grasping her wrist. His fingers, which had done simply marvelous things earlier, were long enough to wrap completely around her wrist and touch his thumb. Cassie smiled, a moment after she gave a little start. This had not been something she’d expected. “You’re awake.” She stated, and he responded by nodding slowly. Slower still, Isaac’s eyes opened and the silver orbs looked at her. He blinked a few times before he spoke.

“Indeed, I am.” He said. He paused. “We’re not in hyperspace anymore are we.” He said and after she shook her head. “I’m going to assume that since Emmali didn’t try to break her way in, that she’s deigned to leave us alone for the time being.” He added.

Cassie gave a small shrug. “I don’t know. I can call if you’d like.” She said, turning to look for where her commlink was. She was soon pulled back so that she was facing Isaac once more.

“No, I think we’ll be okay.” Isaac said, and closed his eyes for a moment. “All done.” He added a little cheerfully. “I’m not one for grand emotional displays, but we need to talk again.” He said with a small smile. He looked into her eyes to gauge her reaction as he spoke. He didn't see anything that would cause distress, but he could see it potentially forming, so he chose his next words carefully. The last thing that he wanted to do was scare her in any way. “Nothing bad, I promise. Well, at least, I think I promise. It’s better for you to hear me out and just decide for yourself, now that I think about it.” Isaac said.

“Alright.” Cassie said. He wasn’t going to say that this had been great, but that he was having second thoughts? After all, her father had appeared to him through the Force and had basically given him his blessing to go forth and do horrible unspeakable things to his daughter that no father would usually willingly tell a man to do. Cassie started thinking of where her blaster was, just in case she needed it.

“I’m going to stay on the Dawn.” Isaac said.

She nearly laughed. “Well, that’s good to know.” She said, breaking his hold on her wrist so that she could run her hand through her hair. “And here I thought this was the break up talk.” She said, giving him a look. “So, you’re going to stay on the ship, huh?”

“Yeah.” Isaac said. He liked her laugh, he really did. In his lifetime there hadn’t been much laughter, but there was one thing that he’d been able to learn, and that was how to tell a lot about a person based off of their laugh. It was very informative, if you stopped to take a look at everything that was a part of it. “I suppose I should also tell you that I’m not too happy with my quarters. Those living arrangements are not up to my needs and the problem must be rectified.” He said. When Cassie gave him another look, he continued. “But these will do nicely.” He said, gesturing to her suite.

This stopped her. She paused. “You’re...serious.” She said. “I...I was worried that you were going to find a way to leave again.” Cassie said, her voice getting softer. She smiled when Isaac shook his head. “So you are staying.” She said.

“Like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

She gave it a momentary pause for dramatic effect. “Strangely enough, I think I can live with that.”

The two of them had later dressed and were now on the bridge of the Dawn. Because they were in the process of resupplying, most of the crew was off the bridge. There were only a few people there, working in the front of the bridge. Emmali was nearby, working on something on a datapad. When she turned, she had a small smile on her face. “Well, as much as I’d like to take some time out and focus on the awesomeness of what happened between you two, I’d rather talk about what’s going on right now in regards to getting paid.” She said. “We were supposed to be paid for our work on that mission, but the Dukedom of Lorryni hasn’t transferred the proper money over to our accounts on Bothawui.” She said. She looked at Isaac. “We were supposed to be paid a total of 3.8 million credits for the mission.” Emmali said. “I tried getting in touch with the office of the Duke on Lorryni, but so far, they’ve been unresponsive.” She said.

“So we fight their battle for them, and they don’t want to pay us.” Cassie said. “I suppose that we’re going to have to head over there and have a conversation with them and see if we can’t get what’s owed to us.” She said with a small shrug. “We lost a good number of people and we owe it to our people to make sure that everyone is paid properly and their families taken care of.” Cassie said.

Isaac nodded. Cassie and Emmali’s mercenary organization was small, and they only wanted the best. Their way of ensuring this was by creating a very lucrative bonus program and insurance policy in case something happened to the mercenary. Setting it up had been a little difficult, convincing all of the mercenaries to pay in to the program. Especially since a lot of the mercenaries did not have family. But in the end, they had managed to convince enough of the mercenaries for it to spread and thus everyone had ended up signing up for it. The program had been a great success so far, and once they had realized that Cassie was a woman of her word, they’d been even more vocal in their support for it. Isaac supported the mercenaries and he knew that they were happy to have someone who was a Force user and a Jedi on the ship.

It gave them the sense that someone was going to be able to pull out the victory for them, no matter what. He knew that it put a lot of pressure on himself, but Isaac was ready to step up to give them that sense of security. He’d been doing it all this time and he wasn’t going to stop now. “What do we know about the Duke of Lorryni?” He asked, folding his arms over his chest as he asked the question.

“We know a lot, actually.” Emmali said. “We don’t usually just accept missions without getting a good bit of background information on them in the process. I mean, we don’t have ridiculous particulars, but I don’t think that it would be that hard to get that kind of information.” She said. “Why, what are you thinking of doing?” She asked.

“I’m not sure yet, but I figured that we should at least have a good bit of information on this guy before we go in there. The first thing we should try to do is talk to him.” He said with a smile. He looked over at Cassie and she nodded at his suggestion. “We’re going to have to assume that he’s not paying on purpose, but we’ve got the Vaungiur reputation to look after, in the end.” Isaac said.

“If we automatically strong arm him, then we’re damaging the reputation of the Vaungiur Mercenaries.” Cassie said. “We have to at least try to make sure that people don’t think we’re just going to attack them once we’re done with a job in order to make sure we get paid.” She said. “We’re going to have to go there, but we’re going to have to do it...nicely.” Cassie added. She turned and looked at Emmali. “We’re resupplying?” She asked and Emmali nodded. “As soon as we’re ready, we’re headed to Lorryni.” She said. “We’re in a bind here, we have to act, but we can’t be too strong with how we push these people.” Cassie said.

Isaac nodded. “You’re going to need my help.” He said.

“So, I take it Mr. Silver Hair is most definitely staying then?” Emmali asked, a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face. “I should say I’m surprised.” She said as she started to walk off the bridge. “But then again, I have some idea at how good Cassie is when she sets her mind to it.” She said, the smile becoming rather devilish.

“Just what does that mean?” Isaac said, turning and looking over his shoulder as Emmali kept walking. The Silserian stopped and turned.

Lorryni was a relatively unknown system, that was far in the Outer Rim. Despite being in the general area of things controlled by the New Republic, the planet and the system were not part of the largest democracy in the galaxy. Instead, they had opted to be a small government unto themselves. The system was controlled by a Duke, who had opened his borders to a number of different organizations and groups. Among these groups were the Hutts and Black Sun, giving Lorryni a small reputation as a place where smugglers could get jobs, find parts, and have some downtime. The Duke had capitalized on this, and used what contacts he’d built up to get his hands on a number of different things. He’d created a very small, but very effective and loyal group of people that were called the Lorryni Loyalists. They were the system’s defense corps. Numbering in the hundreds, the Loyalists’ pride and joy was a single old Rebel Alliance Assault Frigate. They’d gotten their hands on it years ago when the early New Republic had been facing supply issues. In addition, they had two squadrons of Cloakshape fighters, and one squadron of T-Wings.

All in all, it was a decent operation for a single system, two planet government. There were two planets in the system, and both were hospitable. The Dukedom of Lorryni controlled both, the planet eponymous planet Lorryni and the planet Ascav. Ascav was much more rural, and much more “lawless”, as that was where the Hutts and Black Sun and the other organizations had been given a real place to stay. It was the home base for the T-wing squadron, and it had the highest concentration of Loyalist ground forces. The people of Lorryni had opted to have the “refined” people stay on Lorryni, and it was obvious that they considered themselves superior in many ways to their Ascavi brethren.

When the Dawn arrived in the system, Isaac had finished reading up on everything that the Muir and the Vaungiur had on the system, the leader, the government, and the people. There had been a wealth of information there, but nothing that would have given Isaac reason to believe that the Duke would withhold payment. Perhaps there was something more going on here than was obvious. As he’d found out in his life, that almost always was the case. If there was one thing that he knew, it was to always look for something else when given something. The face value of an encounter, well, there was more to it. That much, Erik had always tried to teach him. It wasn’t paranoia, though he’d joked about that before with the Bothan. No, it was simply accepting that not everyone around you had your best intentions at heart, nor did they always do and mean everything that they said. Simply put, people were hard to trust.

Rising from his seated position on the floor, Isaac walked over to the large, oversized closet that dominated much of the quarters that he and Cassie now shared. She’d been perfectly okay with him moving in, until she’d realized that it meant that whatever clothes he had needed to come with him. Apparently she was very protective of her closet space, something that Isaac hadn’t anticipated. Thankfully, he didn’t have much in the way of clothes. Isaac didn’t have much in the way of anything. He attributed that to his past as a slave. He’d gotten used to getting by with little to nothing, and he’d never really gotten too many more personal belongings after becoming a Jedi. There simply wasn’t time. Yes, he’d had his fighter, but that was long gone, destroyed by Korensan. Opening the closet, Isaac looked at his selections with a smile. There wasn’t much, but that was how he liked it, to be honest. Simple.

Selecting a set of Jedi robes, he changed into them, before grabbing the black hooded cloak that he usually wore. Walking over to one of the tables, Isaac reached out and picked up his lightsaber. It wasn’t his lightsaber, not really. It was Derek Muir’s old lightsaber. He’d never built one of his own. Pressing the button on the lightsaber, the red blade sprang to life. Interesting as always, a part of him found it funny that he, a dedicated Jedi used a blade color associated with the Dark Side and with the Sith. Isaac was fairly certain that a blade color didn’t make him a Dark sider. Unfortunately, he was far more certain that the average person that he met wouldn’t understand that, and brand him a Dark sider. A risk that he was willing to take. The only other lightsaber that he had was Mistress Vale’s and that was red bladed as well.

Isaac didn’t think himself ready to try to build his own lightsaber. There was no way that he was ready for something like that. A Jedi’s lightsaber was an integral part of who that Jedi was. It defined him or her. A beautiful tool of death and destruction, but one of life as well. The dual nature of the lightsaber was something that was hard to understand, something that Erik had considered a mystery of the Force. How the Jedi, who cherished life and protected life, were able and willing to pick up such a destructive thing and utilize it. Granted, they were inherently connected to a far more powerful and dangerous entity, but they couldn’t help that, after all.

Erik had considered Form Zero a thing of pure beauty and genius. He’d considered it a higher level, or a more evolved form of Soresu. Yes, Soresu was about defense and in his eyes the most powerful and the most effective form out of all of the forms, but Form Zero had been on a different playing field to the Bothan Jedi.

Isaac had a similar view on things, considering his Jedi education came solely from the Bothan. He didn’t think himself worthy of building a lightsaber, because to him the lightsaber was the ultimate symbol of a Jedi. Was he truly ready to take that step? To him it would have to mean a true change within himself, the ability to rise above himself and transition from a padawan to a Knight. With a sigh, he clipped Derek Muir’s lightsaber to his waist. As he walked out of the room, he realized that he’d never actually met his master’s younger brother. He thought it would be interesting, if the Jedi Knight met him and saw his old lightsaber that he’d thought lost after his fateful duel with Zohmaj Hauc clipped to Isaac’s waist. That would be interesting indeed.

Stepping out into the hallway, Isaac turned and headed to the bridge. He’d felt the bump as they’d removed themselves from lightspeed. They were at Lorryni. Cassie needed him up on the bridge. Walking forward, he headed to the bridge.